A disk brake of the afore-mentioned type is known from DE-A-38 15 733. This disk brake comprises a floating caliper displaceably guided on the steering knuckle by means of two bolt guides. The two bolt guides form two support points for the floating caliper on the inner axial side. The back plate of the outer brake pad is used for additionally supporting the floating caliper on the outer axial side. The floating caliper is disposed either on a central projection of the brake pad serving as a third support point or on projections of the back plate lateral in the circumferential direction in the form of a four-point support. The brake pad, in turn, is supported on carrier arms of an integrated brake carrier.
Typically, the floating caliper is clamped in the radial direction vis-a-vis the carrier arms by means of a wire spring to prevent rattling from occurring. The floating caliper, by the wire spring, is rigidly forced radially inwardly against the back plate of the brake pad which, in turn, is rigidly forced against the carrier arms. No radially resilient movement of the floating caliper over the brake pad is provided. The outer brake pad is detachably fixed to the floating caliper by means of a leaf spring, with the latter also comprising a radially resilient spring tongue; however, the spring tongue in the outer brake pad has no function in the prior art system and is provided only in order to permit an identical design of the outer and inner brake pads.
As in a disk brake of the afore-mentioned type the carrier arms are integral parts of the steering knuckle of the automotive vehicle, the brake pads and the floating caliper must be mounted, during final assembly of the vehicles, by the vehicle manufacturer. The final assembly must be as simple as possible. The floating caliper is, therefore, supplied by the brake manufacturer together with the brake pads as a pre-assembled unit to the vehicle manufacturer for final assembly. However, the prior art floating caliper-type disk brake involves the disadvantage that after fixing the floating caliper by means of the two bolt guides, the wire spring is yet to be clamped between floating caliper and brake carrier, thereby substantially complicating assembly (especially automated assembly) of the floating caliper on the vehicle wheel.
It is the object of the invention to provide a floating caliper-type disk brake of a simple design, permitting a low-cost manufacture and an easy, preferably, automatic assembly on the vehicle wheel.